Happy first new post of the new year! I went on an epic Tokyo trip from mid December 2019 through into New Year 2020 with friends. Instead of writing stuff and sorting through 400+ photos, I just had to summarise the trip by making some comics to express express the weirdest and most memorable things. I printed some limited copies for a local Adelaide ‘Zina Warrior Print Fest‘ which I participated in for the first time. It was a great weekend and I will definitely try to table again. During the trip I only did a handful of travel sketches since I was too preoccupied with loving Japan. Sitting in a Shinjuku cafe having a nice ‘ブレンドコーヒー’ and listening to the bustling sounds of life was the only time I really drew.

To respect the people who bought my zine this weekend (you are the best! thank you for supporting my art) I probably wont ever put it up for free. If you want to read my comics as a PDF maybe follow me on the Gumroad I made.

Drawing group with fwends

Zina Warrior Print Fest 2020

Zina Warrior Print Fest 2020

Zina Warrior Print Fest 2020

Cover for my zine

Musician girl in FlipaClip

Reach

Delusion Eater character design

Delusion Eater

I also just ‘finished’ an animation that was kicking around before I went on break.I invented this guy from the concept of being an ‘Eater of Delusion’. You can only survive him if you’re learnt to cast aside ego, (or maybe just have a rank hermit stank. either or…) It’s loosely inspired by the yoga psychology and stories I have heard,but I also felt like animating it because Hindu and Buddhist demonic art is rad.

Animation can express the flush of adrenaline when you’re jogging and a fave song kicks in. It can convey all sorts of chemistry between people. It can make clothes clinging to a figure become something precious and sensual. It’s only through the aware experience of mundane transient moments that we can start to channel it into art that feels truthful to life and full of ecstasy. I’m maybe making readers uncomfortable with that, maybe it’s my gender speaking but I have a need to communicate real intimacy with art. That’s why I’d rather see lumpy, impulsive and fleshy art than something clinical and copied. For once it feels like it should be 2020, and I’m excited and trusting myself more now than ever. I surprised myself last year as I have started to learn to stop looking backwards and forwards so much. Ah wait, I have a storyboard deadline tomorrow…

In terms of recent things fresh in my mind (before I completely forget this year); I went to a yoga sutra talk this last weekend and had an amazing friend give my work computer a massive hardware boost. I also caricatured myself a new avatar. Staring at old art is the biggest of all pet peeves of mine. The way other people perceive me is probably varying, but long features, scraggly hair and naturally furrowed eye brows is happily how I will see myself.

Drawn at Glenelg Cibos

I crashed a Russian festival in Adelaide

I crashed a Russian festival in Adelaide

I crashed a Russian festival in Adelaide

Murder boi OC

Murder boi OC

Touhou Prismriver sisters

Hetalia Latvia + Poland

(Touhou) Remilia Scarlet black dress ver.

Creepy animation and night-vision affect I made

Hetalia Russia + Belarus (Tvpaint)

Yoga sutra workshop notes

Yoga sutra workshop notes

I bought TVpaint 11 Professional edition and am transitioning over into using that for my animations. I still have a long way to go to before I feel confident in this program, but I definitely see how it speeds up colouring heaps. I always want to preach about how much bravery it takes for anyone to attempt animation. Especially doing full hand-drawn where every decision for every micro-movement has a consequence as it flows into another.

It’s one thing to be an animation fan, or maybe dabble in copying drawings of characters, but it’s a whole different level of intensity to to put in the hours of trying to create a performance out of nothing. You can put labels on whether something is ‘limited’ or ‘full’ animation, but I always aim to better understand movement, acting, the constraints of a character design… it is absolutely infinite. How can you not get addicted to an art form that has a power to entertain and transmit emotions to whoever is watching?

One of the things I learnt about yoga philosophy is how doing things that ‘create fire’ are the things that are so good for you in order to grow, this means things that aren’t in your comfort zone. This absolutely is animation for me. My philosophy on art has expanded the more Iv’e learnt about Yoga philosophy and apply it in the (gruelling yet enjoyable) classes and in daily life. I am not specifically an intellectual person. Instead art for me is an expression of love, love of spontaneous, subconscious movement, like a change that is part of nature. In short, wanting to communicate some sort of energy; emotional and/or physical, is important to me. You can read any animation book to hear about drawing principles, but feeling the joy of movement is special.

I just want to draw more like me, no matter what.

Attending well past 100 Vinyasa classes since being back in Adelaide a year has had it’s affect on me. I may sound loopy, however I have actually always been like this, only I just found a 2500+ year old philosophy to back up my beliefs. Bye for now!

I’ve been recovering after a full on weekend of drawing caricatures at Supanova con in Adelaide. I drew approximately 60 people, with at least 10+ people being repeat customers from past years!

This is the only con I’ve done all year, because I got a bit exhausted keeping up with the whole fanart merch making craze, and decided to mostly focus on honing my skills as a caricaturist.

Supanova runs the most efficient and well organised cons out of all the aussie ones I’ve tabled at, and I hope it continues in Adelaide well into the future! I got 5 chairs AND a great corner booth to draw my caricatures off of, so thanks to the great people volunteering and managing the event.

I learn so much from every single caricature I draw and am REALLY grateful to everyone brave enough to sit down and be drawn by me. Even if sitting for a stranger seems weird, trust me it’s way scarier drawing a stranger in 10 minutes! (and to meet a high expectation for the drawing! )

I’m glad people get a kick out of watching me draw and getting a traditionally inked and coloured drawing. There is something really satisfying about starting my timer and trying my best to capture the people/person in front of me. The girl in the first pic has been getting a caricature from me for the last 4 Supanovas (since 2015), so I must be doing something right!

Don’t know which aussie cons I will apply for next year, or can be bothered travelling to, but we’ll see….until the next one!

Just a dump of some of my fave caricatures I did at Supanova Adelaide this year.I drew approximately 63 people over the weekend and it was a crazy good con, thanks to everyone that was brave enough to sit for me! Fanart obviously attracts people over to any con table but over the years caricaturing has really become my main reason for doing cons. Drawing portraits (especially doubles) in about 10-15 minutes is always tough but I’ve improved so much from the challenge of doing it.

I may live in Sydney at the moment, but I will definitely try to do more Adelaide cons since the crowds are so nice, plus I get to visit my family, so thanks again everyone! I do these all with a Kuretake pen and cool grey Copics…. and lots of ink refill breaks.

Here’s a small dump of some illustrations from some months ago. I love making up characters, but trying to create mood with light and color is another challenge. I would like to achieve a sorta cinematic feel with my illustrations someday (although at the same time I just love the simple elegance of line drawings as well)

On another update, I’m making rapid progress on my own personal animated film project. Its taken a lot of sweat and tears to do the amount of animation Iv’e done on it so far, but I still have a long way to go till I’m really happy with it. I’d love to share gifs once it gets closer to being finished, cant estimate when I’ll be done with it, but keep an eye on this blog!